The Dynast Crusade
by Ghost Rider CSV
Summary: With Ashe's refusal to take their best weapon in hand, the Occuria feel their grip slipping away. Now, an ancient and secretive, yet influential organization begins to enact a plan to return Ivalice to a golden age of the past.
1. Prologue

After a brief hiatus from I'm returning with some fresh material. I've got some interesting ideas ahead and hope you'll enjoy reading this. This story picks up just about right where Final Fantasy XII left off, so, obviosly enough, spoliers are ahead.

Now, there was a particular challenge putting this story together in terms of the main characters. As you know, the job system in Final Fantasy XII is almost entirely open ended, so there's no consistancy in what weapons the characters use or their fighting styles. As I played the game, I tried play to the characters strengths. For some characters this was obvious, like, for Vaan, his speed seemed to be his best point, Penelo had the best magic, and Basch worked well with raw power. For other characters, like Ashe and Fran, there was no real obvious strength to exploit. What you will see of the main characters in this story is based largly off of how I played them in my particular game. There will be a few exceptions made to either play to a pre-existing description for the character, or giving them spells or abilities that seem appropriate to their styles and removing those that don't.

Well, that enough of a foreward, enjoy the story.

Prologue

Months of quiet in a dark lab on the sixty-seventh floor of the Draklor Laboratory building were finally disturbed by the soft hiss of the opening door. A man clad in black, heavy plate armor stood for a moment in the doorway, and then entered. After taking a quick scan of the room, the man reached back and touched a panel on the wall, causing the lights to flicker to life.

Judge Zargabaath removed his helm and lowered it to his left side, taking another look over the now illuminated room. Zargabaath raised his right hand and made a waving motion, which summoned a team of scientists into the room.

The lead scientist, a thin man with unkempt brown hair whose height paled in comparison to Zargabaath in his armor, walked up next to the Judge and adjusted the glasses on his tired face. After reviewing a clip board he looked up at Zargabaath for instructions.

"All of it," the old but powerful Judge ordered. "Get started."

The lead scientist stepped away from Judge Zargabaath and began giving instructions out to the others. Zargabaath left the scientists to their work. The door, bracketed by a pair of lesser Judges, shut behind Zargabaath when he exited.

Zargabaath paused after taking a few steps down the hallway and turned back to the guards. "Nobody enters unless I am with them." With that, he continued down the hallway, replacing his helm.

The scientists in Doctor Cid's old lab were tasked with inventorying and destroying the late man's inventions. The young emperor, Larsa Solidore, working in a much different direction than his father or brother, ordered the destruction of the equipment, stating that it does nothing for the good of Ivalice.

The task only took a few hours to wear on the team. The lead scientist found himself exhausted by the work and infuriated by the former scientist's obsession with destruction. He sat at Doctor Cid's desk, holding in his hand what appeared to be another gun. After a heavy sigh, he dropped the gun and threw his glasses down onto the desk, taking a moment to rub the weariness from his eyes.

"When was the last time you slept, Quim?" The pleasant voice of one of the women on his team inquired.

Quim, looked up at the woman and considered her question. "Two days," he replied with uncertainty. "With all of this, I probably won't get sleep any time soon."

"The glorious life of a Draklor Scientist," The woman replied as she brushed a wisp of her golden brown hair behind her ear. While Draklor had a whole host of unique people, Quim found that Inés seemed to stand out to him. One thing that stood out to anyone in Draklor was her origin from Bujerba, as most of the scientists came out of Archades. She had a fiery personality which appeared to be absent from most people at the Laboratory. And with bronze skin on her long legs and athletic body, Quim would be lying if he did not admit that she was more then a bit attractive.

"Not exactly what I had in mind when I was studying at the Akademy."

"I don't think it's what anyone had in mind," Inés replied. "We all wanted to change the world." Inés put on a fanciful tone. "We wanted make life better for everyone in Ivalice." She shook her head and laughed. "Now we're scrounging through a dead guy's office."

"And discovering just how insane he was." It was no secret that Quim hated Doctor Cid.

"Well…" Inés picked up the weapon that Quim had just dropped. "He certainly enjoyed making weapons."

"Hey," another scientist spoke up. "Does anyone else think this is a waste?" The entire team of six paused and looked at him.

"Think what's a waste?" Quim broke a brief moment of silence.

"You know all this." He waved his hand along the shelves. "Destroying this stuff. Isn't there something better we can do with it?"

"No," Quim said, sounding agitated. "Look at all of it. They're all just weapons. This man was a lunatic, and all of this is just a perversion of the technology that we've developed."

"Alright, alright," the other scientist said, returning to his work. "Sorry I asked."

Outside, two men approached the lab, drawing the careful attention of the Judges by the door. They both appeared youthful, possibly in their mid-twenties. The shorter of the two had blond hair and blue eyes framed by glasses. He was wearing a long white coat over plain black clothes and a leather harness with held several small pockets.

The man to his right was just the opposite. He was somewhat brooding with very dark brown, unkempt hair and wore a baggy white gi with the sleeves ripped off as well as wooden sandals. He didn't look directly forward, instead taking a downward angle that kept his eyes ominously shaded by his brow. On his left hip sat a katana, which his hand constantly rested on.

When they reached the door, the guards drew their swords, forbidding the pair entry. "No one is to enter without Judge Zargabaath," One of the judges nearly yelled at them.

"Well then," The shorter man said with a very sarcastic voice. "Allow my associate here to show you the proper authorization." He looked over at his partner. "Odo."

The young man looked up for the first time, his hazel eyes darted from one of the judges to the other. The next thing the Judges knew, their swords were roughly half as long, and Odo was holding his katana in the air with his right hand. The Judges' swords were bent near the point where they were halved by Odo's katana, which glowed red, and was turning white. The air above and around the katana rippled from the intense heat it emitted.

Odo brought his sword down in front of himself with the tip pointing out ahead as he shuffled his right foot back and placed his left hand near the bottom of the hilt. The Judges stood staring at the new tips of their swords, surprised that the katana did not cut though their swords, as much as it melted through them.

Stepping forward, Odo slashed upwards at the guard to his left. His katana melted a hole in the Judges armor as it cut through and it left the smell of burnt flesh in the air. The guard fell to his knees and tried to clutch the wound through his armor. No blood seeped through the cut in his armor, as his wound was cauterized by the heat of the sword.

Not wasting any time, Odo, quickly flipped his katana around and stabbed backwards, running the second guard through. Odo kept the blade in the guard for a minute. The only noises were an eerie sizzling as his katana burnt flesh and entrails, and a quiet moaning as the guard struggled with what would be his final breath.

After removing the katana, the guard fell, and Odo sheathed it, emotion still void from his face. The other man walked up beside Odo and patted him on the shoulder. "Quick and efficient as usual." He then looked down at the guard, who was now taking short, sharp breaths. "Don't worry, pal. Shock will set in soon, and it'll all be over."

The talkative one then looked into a pocket on the outside of his coat. "Now, about that door." After analyzing its contents he closed it and pulled his jacket open, looking over numerous small glass vials that were strapped to the inside. "Wait," he said as he dropped his coat and reached into one of the pockets on his harness. Pulling out another small glass vial he looked at it for a moment and nodded. "This oughta do the trick." He took aim at the door and paused before throwing it. "You might wanna take a step back."

Odo heeded his partner's advice and backed up. The man in the lab coat took aim at the door once more and tossed the vial.

Inés figured that the room would be quiet for some time after the brief argument between Quim and one of the other scientists. The quiet lasted for only a few minutes as a deafening roar accompanied by a powerful shock threw Inés to the ground.

Inés did not have much time to recover, as she could make out through the lingering smoke that a man with a sword was making his way through the room. He quickly moved from person to person, making sure that, if they survived the explosion, it would not be for very long. By virtue of her location in the back of the room, the man approached her last, giving her enough time to react and roll away from his sword.

The man stood still for a moment, somewhat shocked that he had missed his target, and slowly turned his head toward Inés as she threw off her lab coat. She crouched forward and eyed the man up as she waited for him to move. The man's sword slowly drifted toward Inés as he took time to consider his new opponent, not having expected the slightest bit of a challenge from a handful of scientists.

"You're still working here Inés?" A familiar voice called from the doorway.

Inés looked toward the source to see the blond man in the lab coat. "It's actually not that hard to stay employed here, Everard."

"Ah, Inés. Someone as smart as you? You're just wasting your talents here. You should come work for my new employer, hardly any restrictions at all."

"They let you test new poisons on people?" Inés' eyes never left Odo while talking to Everard.

"Odo," Everard said, holding his hand out. "Don't kill her."

The swordsman looked back at Everard quizzically, and reluctantly lowered his sword.

"She's too smart to just waste like this. We might be able to use her."

"If you're gonna drag me outta here, you're gonna have to kill me," Inés answered.

Everard shook his head. "Oh please, there's a much easier way to do this." Everard reached into one of the pouches on his harness and pulled out a small pouch which he threw at Inés. The pouch burst just in front of her face and sprayed a powder at her. After a moment of coughing, Inés passed out.

Odo caught Inés before she hit the ground and threw her over his shoulder while Everard gathered a few sets of blueprints from the office and other pieces of information he deemed appropriate.

When they left Doctor Cid's office, Everard and Odo were greeted by Judge Zargabaath along with four lesser judges.

"You go no further," Zargabaath threatened them.

Everard and Odo looked at each other. "You want 'em?" Everard asked.

Odo's answer was to set Inés down against the wall and draw his sword.

"So be it," Zargabaath said. The judge waved his hand forward and commanded the others to attack.

Their attack did not last long. As the judges approached, Odo took a step forward, and swung twice with his katana. All of the judges were stopped in their tracks, and, after a moment's delay, they all fell to the ground. Odo scanned his fallen opponents and then looked toward Zargabaath, slowly raising his sword.

With an angry grunt, Zargabaath hastily drew his sword and walked toward Odo with a purpose. With surprising speed for a man his age, he took several swings at Odo, all of which the younger man deflected. For once today, Odo appeared to be having a degree of trouble with his opponent.

A heavy swing by Zargabaath pushed Odo backwards a few steps. The judge kept the pressure on his opponent and quickly closed the distance he just created and came in with an overhand swing, which Odo caught on his katana. Zargabaath began to gain the upper hand, overpowering Odo as their swords struggled against each other.

Odo, realizing he was losing this test of strength, quickly changed his tactic. He tilted his sword, turning the tip toward the ground and sending Zargabaath's sword sliding off. With a circular swing, Odo cut into Zargabaath's armor, not quite penetrating. The attack was enough to make Zargabaath drop his guard, allowing Odo time to plant a firm kick in Zargabaath's chest. Odo's kick sent the judge stumbling into the wall. While the impact was not severe, the way Zargabaath hit the wall combined with his heavy armor, it was enough to force the air out of his lungs. Zargabaath slid to the floor and coughed awkwardly as he missed a breath.

"Come on, Odo." Everard stopped his partner. "We don't have a lot of time before more show up."

Odo looked back at Everard, paused, then swung his sword back into its sheath. Everard was now carrying the unconscious scientist over his shoulder, and the two proceeded to the elevator.

Zargabaath sat against the wall for several minutes attempting to catch his breath. "I should have been able to defeat him," he said to himself. "I should have recovered from this by now. I might be getting too old for this."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Zargabaath heard from beside him. He looked up to see who was standing beside him. Zargabaath already knew who it was, and confirmed it when he saw the helmet in the man's left hand, adorned with horns like that of a ram.

"Are you injured?" Basch asked him.

"No, just winded," Zargabaath answered. "They've made it to the elevator by now. They have a hostage."

"They won't leave the building," Basch promised. With that, he replaced his helmet and ran down the hallway.

As Basch ran he activated a communicator in his helmet. "I need a transport at the sixty-fifth floor, southwest corner, now!" With conformation of his order, Basch continued running down the hallway. As he approached the wall, Basch drew his zweihänder, a large sword, almost the length of his body, with the blade shaped into a wave pattern which he named Verteidiger.

Getting closer to the wall, a point of light began to shine at the tip of the blade. Without breaking stride, Basch thrust his sword into the wall, and jumped though the hole he had made.

Basch was briefly blinded as his eye adjusted to the much brighter light outside. When the pure white that filled his vision faded back to the real world, Basch looked down to see the transport he ordered two floors below him and perfectly positioned for him to land on it. A dull _THUD_ sounded as the roof of the transport bent under Basch's landing.

"What the hell?" Basch heard the surprised driver yell from inside the transport.

"Ground floor," Basch ordered him. "Now!"

"Uh, y-yes sir," the confused driver replied.

Instead of swinging himself down and into the cabin of the transport while it took him down, Basch simply thrust the claw like fingers of his gauntlet into the roof and continued to ride on the top as it descended. Along with the regular traffic of Archades rushing past, there was an intermittent whistling as the air Basch was cutting through infiltrated his armor via small notches and holes where pieces of the mail connected.

When the transport was nearly two floors off the ground, Basch pulled his left hand from its grip in the transport's roof and jumped off, sending himself crashing onto the plaza in front of the laboratory building and leaving cracks in the cement from the impact. As he pushed himself up straight, he could hear commotion coming from just inside the building, telling him he had made it just in time.

"We've got more friends, Odo." Everard was struggling to hold Inés at this point. It was not that Inés was heavy, far from it, but Everard was rather physically weak, and he had been holding Inés for some time now. "Make it quick, pal. I wanna get out of here."

Six soldiers and two judges; with Odo's performance so far today, this would not be too much of a problem.

From the lobby balcony that he and Everard were on, Odo jumped and landed on the railing of one of the two staircases that arched down to the lower level and slid down. When he reached the end, Odo kicked himself off of the railing and did a flip, drawing his sword and slicing through one of the soldiers at the base of his neck.

Odo landed in a crouch, holding his sword out beside himself, and he held the pose for a moment as his sword changed from its glossy sliver color, to red, and finally white; the air once again rippling from the heat as it rose off the blade. When the guards finally made a move toward him, Odo sprung forward and slashed at the neatest soldier, sending him to the ground. With a spin and another slash, he dispatched another two soldiers.

One of the judges moved in to attack, but found his efforts thwarted as Odo swung at his blade, melting through it with his cut and rendering the judge's sword useless. Odo then drew his sword back and thrust it through the judge's stomach. After giving the judge a moment to smell his own burning flesh and realize that he was slowly dying, Odo swung the blade out of the man, cutting and burning through his abdomen and out of his side. With the same swing of his katana, Odo also felled another soldier, leaving one left, plus the judge.

The two remaining opponents slowly backed away from Odo, unsure of how to approach him. The soldier, deciding on using the reach advantage of his halberd, tried to strike Odo from as far away as possible. The attack was easily sidestepped by Odo, who then removed the head of the halberd and moved in to finish the soldier.

At the unfortunate expense of his comrade, the sole remaining judge saw opportunity to strike Odo as he finished the soldier. The judge, however, underestimated the swordsman's speed and, with a quick turn and slash, Odo completely severed the man's right arm. The judge began to scream in pain, but his cries were quickly silenced when Odo sliced his sword halfway through the judges neck, severing and searing his vocal chords in addition to almost instantly killing him.

Odo held his sword out to his side after the follow through of his last strike, taking time to enjoy his handiwork, to the extent that he could enjoy something. After taking a moment to observe the scene, the large wooden doors that served as the lobby entrance were powerfully thrust open.

At first, neither Odo nor Everard could make out who or what had thrown the doors open due to the bright natural light that entered, but after a moment, they were able to distinguish the backlit figure of a man clad in heavy armor, wielding a large sword in his right hand.

"This… could get interesting…." Everard noted when he recognized the ram-like horns on the man's helmet, telling him just who was standing in the doorway. Odo also showed rare emotional reaction as his normally stoic expression turned to one of anger and determination.

"Your rampage ends now," Basch called out to the men.

Not wasting time, Basch readied his sword and walked swiftly toward Odo, who did much the same, except for breaking into an all out run. Both men swung their swords at the same time and, with a near deafening _CLANG_ and a shower of sparks, their blades met briefly, until Basch's superior strength threw Odo backwards into the air.

With a back flip, Odo was able to recover and land on his feet, despite sliding backwards for nearly a meter after landing. Odo once again rushed in to attack, ducking an initial strike by Basch and lashing out with a trio of his own. With limited movement of his zweihänder, Basch was able to block all of Odo's attacks. Basch then returned with a horizontal slice, which Odo ducked, followed by an overhead swing ,which Odo was able to roll away from. More sparks exploded as Basch's sword impacted and cracked the stone floor.

Odo's roll brought him behind Basch, and he used the opportunity to attack. His slash was stopped when Basch reached back and caught the katana on the wrist of his gauntlet. Though Odo's katana burned intensely, it could not slice through the higher quality armor that Basch wore as it could the armor of the soldiers or lesser judges.

With a sweep of his arm, Basch pushed Odo's katana away and brought his own sword forward. Odo once again maneuvered out of the path of Basch's sword and brought his own katana over his head and down onto the Judge Magister. Basch pulled his zweihänder off the floor and up to block Odo's attack, and then used his superior strength to guide Odo's blade to the floor.

With their swords entangled and pointed toward the floor, Basch pressed the size advantage he had over Odo and lunged his body forward, ramming into Odo and forcing him backwards. Basch then held his sword down in front of himself, waiting for Odo to approach again. When Odo did move forward, Basch stabbed at him and slashed upward. Finding the attack unsuccessful, Basch tried again with a horizontal slice, this time planning for Odo to duck.

When Odo did crouch to avoid the attack, Basch released his right hand from the hilt of his sword and brought it back across, timing the strike just right to catch Odo in the side of the face as he stood. The impact threw Odo part way across the room, opening some space up between him and the Judge.

Basch had now decided it was time to finish the fight. He flipped his sword backwards once then placed it on his back. Bringing his arms to his sides and clenching his fists, dark orbs of energy began to form on them. When Basch was content with the size of the orbs, he yelled, bringing his hands forward and hitting them together, which shot a dark beam of energy toward Odo.

While Basch was preparing his attack, Odo had gotten back to his feet and sheathed his katana. Odo then stepped his right side forward and dropped into a low stance, letting his right hand hover just over the hilt of his sword as his left held tightly to the sheath. When he heard Basch yell, he knew it was his time to move.

"Kiyomori," Odo whispered to himself just before stepping forward and slicing into the air the instant before Basch's beam reached him.

Instead of hitting Odo, Basch's attack was stopped short. In the place where the tip of Odo's blade cut, the beam that Basch had fired was cleaved in two, with both halves continuing well wide of Odo and blasting into the wall behind him. The beam did reveal a translucent, red shield where the two were apparently rubbing against each other. The shield that Odo erected with his sword.

"Impressive work, swordsman," Basch said, once again pulling his sword off of his back. "This has become more interesting than I would have liked."

"As good as Odo is," Everard said to himself, still watching from the balcony, "Judge von Rosenberg has gotta be just as good, and he's a tank in that armor."

Basch stood for a moment, holding his sword out in front of himself. After taking a moment to concentrate, Basch swung his sword forward at Odo, even though the samurai was across the room. Basch's slash created a glowing white crescent in the air which flew toward Odo with Basch chasing it in.

Odo swung his own sword first at the crescent that Basch had thrown, dispersing the energy as he cut through it, and then jumped over and behind Basch, avoiding his follow up attack. Given a new opportunity, Odo once again lowered his stance and sheathed his sword for a moment.

"Koutetsu," Odo whispered as he slashed out with his sword well short of Basch. Though he intentionally swung short, a shockwave erupted from his sword and expanded toward Basch. When the wave hit Basch, it pushed him back several feet, and deafened him with a terrible screech. As it continued past Basch, the shockwave shattered a large window behind him.

Basch shook his head, trying to coax the ringing in his ears to stop. He looked up at Odo and noticed that after all that had happened, the samurai was starting to breathe heavily. Basch was also straining for air, at this point the weight of his armor had started to wear on him.

Odo and Basch once again approached each other, slowly this time. As soon as he was within reach, Basch struck out with his zweihänder, but missed as Odo sidestepped the attack. After he evaded Basch's attack, Odo swiped upwards at Basch, and sent the Judge stumbling backwards in pain.

Basch grabbed at his right shoulder with his left hand and backed up; surprised that Odo's sword was able to find purchase on him. Looking down, Basch realized that Odo was able to slip his sword through the joint of his armor and find his skin.

Everard now saw opportunity, and though that his interference could help Odo take down the more feared of the two remaining Judge Magisters. As fast as he could, Everard raced down the staircase and drew his knife, charging at Basch. The Judge quickly became aware of Everard's attack. With a powerful swing of his right hand, Basch struck Everard's wrist with his sword pommel, knocking the dagger from his hand. Basch then reached out with his left hand and grabbed Everard by the lapel of his lab coat, throwing him through the previously shattered window.

With Odo now moving in for a strike, Basch quickly turned and swung his massive sword around. With another loud _CLANG_ and the explosion of several sparks, Basch knocked the katana from Odo's hands. After taking a brief moment to realize what had just happened, Basch rammed the pommel into Odo's stomach, and then struck him in the face with it, sending the now disarmed man to the ground. Finally, Basch brought his sword down in an overhead swing onto Odo. Before the blade could cleave through Odo, the tip of the sword hit the floor on the far side, stopping the edge right above his body.

"Yield," Basch commanded powerfully. He could see Odo acknowledging defeat despite his emotionless expression.

Everard sat up, now in the alley beside the laboratory building, and rubbed his head. "Fighting definitely isn't my thing." After convincing himself that his equilibrium was good enough to stand up, he looked back through the window from which he was ejected and saw Odo laying on the ground with Basch's sword stopped just above his body.

"Alright," Everard said to himself, fishing through the pouches on his harness. "Time for us to get out of here." After Everard took a close look at the vial he produced he nodded and tossed it into the lobby. The vial exploded at Basch's feet, letting off a blinding flash and filling the lobby with smoke.

Basch jumped back and covered the eye slits on his helmet with his arm to shield himself from the flash. When Basch lowered his arm, there was not much difference in what he could see; the black metal of his gauntlet was simply replaced with a dark grey smoke. Basch could hear numerous footsteps approaching the lobby, figuring that reinforcements were finally arriving, though too late.

The additional soldiers arrived in the lobby as the smoke dispersed. There were only two living people in the room at this point: Basch and the unconscious scientist. Basch, thoroughly frustrated at what had just happened, exhaled heavily. His deep breath had blown out the smoke which gathered in his helmet that, from the outside, created a frightening illusion that the Judge himself was exhaling the smoke.

"Is the hostage unharmed?" Basch called to one of the soldiers as he removed his helmet. One could easily tell by looking at the Judge Magister that the fight had exhausted him. Basch was still breathing heavily, and his face was a deep shade of red with light glistening off the fine coat of sweat covering it.

"She's unconscious, but otherwise looks unharmed," the soldier reported back.

Basch ascended to the balcony and took a moment, looking at the hostage that the intruders had tried to take, to organize his thoughts and take control of the situation.

"I want security increased over the entire building," Basch started. "Replace the guard in the lobby and double it, and have two extra guards stationed at the elevators on every floor." Basch looked down to the lower lobby, counting the bodies that were lying on the floor. "I want the names off everyone they killed, have someone inform their families."

"And her?" One of the soldiers asked about the scientist.

Though Basch did not know the extent of her injuries, it could not have happened to her in a better place, with the possible exception that she was standing next to the rare person that was skilled in the art of healing majicks. The lower floors of the Draklor Laboratory building were devoted to medical and biological research and, as such, contained the best hospital in Ivalice.

"I'll take her to the hospital," Basch answered the soldier. "They should be able to take care of her."

As the soldiers dispersed and Basch picked up the unconscious woman, the Judge Magister had much to think about, particularly what the two intruders were actually doing. Though Basch did not know the full extent of it, he did know that they had taken information from Doctor Cid's lab, which meant it was something dangerous. Doctor Cid's work was also rather arcane, even to many of Draklor's own scientists, which raised a question about whether or not they could understand it, or if they knew someone who could.

_Either way,_ Basch figured, _just having the information out there is dangerous._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Penelo lazily turned her head to look out the side of the spherical glass cockpit of the airship she and Vaan were now using. Below her, the desert of the Dalmasca Eastersand rushed by in a beige blur. Though Penelo and Vaan were not given any idea on Balthier and Fran's whereabouts by the letter that was left, Vaan figured that if they were not in Balfonheim, then someone there might know where they were.

Vaan was yet to back off the edge of his seat during this flight. Penelo was not sure if it was the anticipation of tracking down the man who had become his mentor, or general thrill Vaan got from flying, but he was certainly as excited as she had ever seen him. She smiled at the sight, as often times Vaan's happiness translated into her own.

Looking into the distance ahead, Penelo could see the coast approaching. The longest part of their flight would be over the sea to the east of Dalmasca. This stretch was longer thajn the time the spent over the Eastersand, and it would also prove to be more boring, as there was even less to look at. As they got closer to the coast, Penelo spotted a flock of birds flying along a similar route that she and Vaan were on, though much closer to the ground.

Penelo continued to casually take in her slowly changing surroundings, the deep cerulean ocean gradually replacing the soft cream of the Eastersand. The calm scenery began to wear on Penelo, and it was growing increasingly difficult for her to keep her eyes open. Penelo did not fight it for too long, figuring that a short nap would be okay. However, the nap actually proved to be much longer than she expected.

It seemed that just as Penelo closed her eyes, she was awoken by Vaan, who was pointing out the front of the cockpit, directing Penelo's attention to a cape jutting into the sea, which had just appeared over the horizon.

"We're almost there," Vaan said as he leaned even further forward in his seat. The engines of the airship whined as Vaan pushed the throttle up further, hastening their approach to Balfonheim.

After they reached the Aerodrome and hangared their airship, Vaan and Penelo literally ran to the reception desk. When he reached it, Vaan had to grab onto the desk to stop himself, and the receptionist looked up to a rather comical sight of Vaan's legs and waist continuing past his upper body, and the desk became more a tool to keep him from falling than one to slow him down. Penelo was much more reserved, simply running so that she could keep up with Vaan, and she slowed down well before reaching the desk.

"Can you tell me if the _Strahl_ is here?" Vaan asked in a heavy exhale.

The receptionist smirked and looked down at the book in front of her. After a moment of scanning, she pointed at a spot on the book and traced a line over to the other side of the page. "Hanger 'G'," she finally said, pointing down a nearby hallway. "All the way down, to the right."

The receptionist had barely finished talking before Vaan took off down the hallway. "C'mon, Penelo, let's go!"

"Vaan, slow down." Though Penelo was certainly in good shape, Vaan was just too fast for her to keep up with.

When Vaan reached the hangar, he burst through the door without any hesitation and lost his momentum only a few steps in as he stopped to marvel at the _Strahl_. Penelo reached the door shortly after and paused to look at Vaan, then walked up beside him and followed his gaze to the airship. The hangar that the _Strahl_ was stored in was actually one that was more or less owned by Balthier, and he and Fran actually lived in it when not in their airship.

Vaan and Penelo stared in silence at the airship for several minutes. "I knew he'd be here," Vaan finally said.

"A bit rude of you to just barge in, isn't it?" A very familiar voice asked from behind them.

Vaan and Penelo turned around quickly, instantly identifying who it was. Balthier was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, and a foot propped up on the doorjamb. Fran stood next to him, leaning to one side with her arms crossed over her stomach.

"Balthier! Fran!" Penelo ran toward them and, at the last moment out stretched her arms, forcing Balthier to push off of the doorway and receive her hug.

"It'd be nice if everyone was this happy to see me," Balthier commented as Penelo moved on to hug Fran. Though still awkward about it, Fran was becoming more receptive to some of the "quirks" of Humes.

"You two have been up to no good, I trust?" Balthier asked.

"We've been busy," Penelo answered. "Vaan has his own airship now."

"Is that so?" Balthier looked up at Vaan. "What kind of ship is it?"

"It's not much," Vaan answered. "An S-37, it was pretty cheap."

"Old model," Balthier noted. "A fairly solid one, though. How's it working out for you?"

"I haven't gotten a chance to use it that much, yet." Vaan answered. "Mostly I've just been running deliveries for Migelo."

"Have to start somewhere, I suppose," Balthier said as he walked into the hanger and past Vaan.

"By the way, you did a nice job taking care of her." Balthier was referring to the _Strahl._ "She could have used a bit of wax, though."

"I was about to do that when you took her back," Vaan responded.

Balthier returned with a half hearted laugh. "So, did you two come out all this way just to visit us?"

"Well, we haven't seen you for a year now," Penelo answered. "Everyone thought you were both dead until you took the _Strahl_ back."

"We had no plans to die in the _Bahamut_, did we Fran?"

Fran remained silent.

"Also," Penelo continued. "Ashe's Coronation is in a month. She'd love it if you could both be there. Larsa and Basch will be there, too."

"Ah yes, how have they been doing lately?" Balthier asked.

"We haven't really heard from them for a while. Ashe wants to meet with us all before her Coronation; I guess we'll be able to see them then."

"Well, we should be able to make it out to Rabanastre soon. I suppose it would be a good idea to put the Queen's mind at ease," Balthier decided.

Balthier turned back to Vaan and Penelo as he rolled up his sleeves. "In the meantime, the _Strahl_ is in need of some maintenance work, mind lending a hand, Vaan?"

"Sure," Vaan replied, excited to get his hands back on the _Strahl_.

Basch, his face still red with sweat dripping down from the fight he had earlier, stood alongside Zargabaath in the large, stately office of Larsa Solidore. Though young, Larsa was wise beyond his years, and the Senate had no arguments with Larsa ascending to the position once held by his father and brother. With everything that the older Solidores had put Arcadia through, Larsa was a welcome change.

"Eight judges, six soldiers, and four scientists?" Larsa asked to confirm the death count.

"Yes sir," Zargabaath responded.

"And the fifth scientists?"

"She's in the Draklor Hospital now," Basch answered.

Zargabaath stepped forward after Basch's answer. "Sir, if you will, Basch and I have some additional input on this attack."

Larsa nodded, bidding Zargabaath to continue.

"We believe that this attack was far from random," Zargabaath started.

Larsa looked at the Judges, seemingly in agreement, yet bidding them to continue.

"The attackers knew the layout of the laboratory well." Basch noted. "They went directly to Doctor Cidolfus' lab."

"So we're dealing with someone that worked in the laboratory?" Larsa asked.

"Yes," Basch responded. "That, or he has a contact in the laboratory."

"Also considering that their only apparent targets were a series of blueprints and the level of Dr. Cidolfus' work, they must be able to comprehend it or they know someone who can," Zargabaath added.

"Will they still be able to make use of the plans?"

"If they have someone who can comprehend the blueprints, then it's possible that they have the resources to utilize them," Zargabaath answered.

"There's also the matter of the swordsman." Basch paused as he recalled the fight he had in the lobby. "A fighter of his skill is not likely to commit himself to anything of this scale if there were not more behind it."

Larsa sat quietly for a moment, taking in all that Basch and Zargabaath had told him. "Zargabaath, I want you to work on improving security at the laboratory. Everyone who works there should feel safe."

Larsa then turned to Basch to give him an order. "Basch, I'd like you to investigate this attack further. If what you said is true, we could have a larger problem on our hands. Zargabaath will join you when he is finished at Draklor."

"Sir," Basch and Zargabaath replied simultaneously with salutes and left the office.

Basch arrived at a nurse station in the hospital that occupied the lower portion of the Draklor Laboratories. Figuring to start his investigation right away, Basch planned to start with the woman that the attackers tried to kidnap. He thought that there had to be some reason she was singled out, when the others with her were killed.

"The scientist I brought in earlier." Basch gained the attention of the nurse who seemed to be in charge. She was a fairly short woman, but still managed a commanding presence. "Is she still here?"

"Inés? Yeah, she's still here," the nurse said as she walked around the nurse's station filling out various forms and charts. "She's doing alright, but we're not sure what that stuff was that knocked her out, so we're keeping her overnight for observation."

"Is she well enough for visitors? I have a few questions for her."

"Yeah, you can go talk to her," the nurse said. "You're not going in right now, though."

"Excuse me?"

"We all saw the security video," the nurse told him. "I know you have a wound on your shoulder, and you haven't checked in here yet today."

Basch looked down at the nurse for a moment silently. "What room is Inés in?"

The nurse put her hands on her hips and met Basch's gaze. "I'm not going to tell you until you go into that exam room."

"My shoulder is fine," Basch insisted.

"No it's not," the nurse replied, "and in the time you've spent arguing with me, we could have finished. Now get in that exam room so we can get this over with and you can go talk to Inés."

After another lengthy stare-down, Basch finally gave in, closing his eyes and sighing. "Thank you," the nurse said as she followed him into the exam room.

It took Basch several minutes to remove the arms and torso of his armor. Underneath his armor, Basch left his torso bare, and had white tape wrapped around his arms from just below his elbows to the palms of his hands.

The nurse was surprised when she looked at Basch's shoulder, not seeing the gash that she had expected. "This is a burn."

"The intruder's sword must have had a fire element imbued in it," Basch answered.

"Well, it's not too bad," the nurse said as she wiped off the burn with a clear liquid. The nurse then found a tube of ointment in a drawer along the wall, applied that to the burn, and finished by dressing the wound.

"Here." The nurse handed Basch the tube. "Put this on it a couple of times each day, and keep the dressing clean."

As Basch replaced his armor onto his body, the nurse walked out of the exam room. "Inés is in room three forty-eight."

When Basch reached Inés' room, he paused for a moment to double check the room number before knocking on the door, and being invited in. Upon entering the room, he found Inés sitting upright in her bed, wearing the standard hospital gown, and toying with the needle on the inside of her arm which fed the IV into her. She took a quick look up to identify her visitor before turning her attention back to the needle.

"So, you're my knight in shining armor?"

Basch paused for a moment before deciding to ignore the question. "How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling?" Inés echoed as she looked up at Basch. "I just watched four of my friends get killed and I almost got kidnapped. How do you think I feel?"

"I understand," Basch replied.

Inés sighed as she realized she was giving the Judge Magister, the man who had saved her, no less, more than he deserved. "At least that powder he hit me with had me feeling pretty good for a while." Inés leaned back in her bed and stopped playing with the IV needle. "Anyway, I assume you're not just here to check up on how I'm doing."

"I do have some questions I would like to ask you. However, I do not wish to ask you if you feel you are not ready to answer."

"No," Inés said, waving her hand. "I can. Go ahead."

Basch nodded and thought over his questions for a moment. "Do you know why you were the only scientist that was spared?"

Inés shrugged. "Luck, I guess. I was in the back of the room when they blew the door open, so I was the last one that the guy with the sword got to. I got out of the way in time, and then Everard kept him from killing me."

_Everard?_ Basch thought quickly. "You know the intruders?"

"Just the one," Inés said. "Not the guy with the sword, the other one."

"How do you know him?"

"He used to work here," Inés answered. "I thought you guys arrested him after you found out what he was doing."

Try as he might, Basch could not remember this man. "How long ago was this?"

Inés paused as she though about the question. "A little less then a year ago, I think."

There was his answer. This man was probably "arrested" just before Basch had become a Judge Magister.

Basch stood silently for a moment, trying to plan out his investigation as he thought through more questions to ask Inés. The scientist had proven to give Basch much more useful information than he originally expected. He came into Inés' hospital room with no real idea where to go afterwards. Now, he had a name, previous employment, and found that Inés was at least an acquaintance of one of the men.

"Do you know what was on the blueprints that they stole?"

"No," Inés replied as she shook her head. "We were only in there for about an hour when they attacked. Everard took some stuff that we hadn't gotten to yet."

"Is there any chance he knows what was on there?"

"Probably," Inés said. "He spent almost his entire time at Draklor working under Doctor Cid. Everard probably worked on everything in that office at some point."

The situation was starting to turn worse. The blueprints were in the hands of someone who knew what was on them.

Basch stood silently and thought for a moment. _He can understand the blueprints, but that does not mean…_ "How easy would it be for Everard to construct what was on the blueprints?"

"I don't know," Inés replied. "I don't know what was on the ones that he took."

"Based off of what you have seen of Doctor Cid's work." Basch pushed for an answer.

"From what I've seen?" Inés echoed. "I would say it'd be pretty hard to make anything of Doctor Cid's if you're not in here." Inés paused for a moment as Basch nodded at her response. "Though I can't imagine he'd go through the trouble of stealing something he couldn't use."

Basch had to agree with Inés' answer. Everard knew what he was stealing, so it would not make sense if he could not use it.

"Just one last question." Basch had probably gotten about as much information as he could. "I just need Everard's full name."

"Everard des Barres," Inés answered. "Good luck tracking him down."

"Thank you for your time." Basch then excused himself from the room.

Zargabaath was waiting for Basch outside of the room. Though he had not finished drawing up a plan for increased security, he thought that, since he would soon be joining Basch in his endeavor, he should see how it started.

"Any useful information," Zargabaath asked Basch as he exited the room.

"I have a name," Basch replied. "Everard des Barres. Do you know it?"

"Yes." Zargabaath looked at Basch quizzically. "He was a scientist here. After Larsa gained power, he refused to stop his experiments and he was arrested."

"What happened to him after that?"

"He was tried and eventually sent to the prison. He should still be there."

Basch paused when he heard Zargabaath's answer. "The scientist identified him as one of the intruders."

"That's impossible," Zargabaath replied. "There's never been so much as an escape attempt from that prison. Even if there were, I would have heard of it."

"We should go to the prison and look in on this," Basch said as he started walking down the hall to the elevator.

Zargabaath took a few quick steps to catch up with Basch. "With all due respect, Basch, the scientist was drugged during the ordeal."

"She identified him before she was drugged," Basch replied.

"Simply by the fact that she was drugged, we have to call into question her memory."

"Still," Basch said, "what's the harm in checking?"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vaan and Penelo walked back into Balthier's hanger, having spent the previous night at The Whitecap, to find Balthier and Fran loading equipment onto the _Strahl_.

"Ah, you're just in time," Balthier said as he walked to his airship carrying a crate.

Vaan jogged over to Balthier after being beckoned by a nod. "What's going on?" Vaan asked as he took the crate off of Balthier's hands.

"Fran and I found a set of ruins in the Nabreus Deadlands. It's in fairly good shape, considering the state of everything else there." Balthier looked back at the crate and then pointed up into the airship. "Just put it anywhere."

"Do you know what's in there?" Penelo asked as Vaan disappeared into the _Strahl_.

"Wouldn't be any fun if we did," Balthier replied, walking back to what appeared to be some kind of work bench in the back of the hangar.

When Vaan came back from inside of the airship he was met by Balthier who was holding a pair of gauntlets which he picked up from his workbench.

"What are these?" Vaan asked when Balthier gave him the gauntlets.

"Thought these might suit you well." Balthier took one of them back from Vaan and held it out with the palm up. "There're modified gravity moats in the palm. Just use them like you normally would and-," Balither demonstrated by tossing the gauntlets upward where they stuck to the bottom of the _Strahl_, "- They'll stick to any surface. I made them out of a mythril and steel alloy, so they'll stop just about anything."

"Thanks," Vaan said while putting the gauntlets on. He balled and released his fists a few times, then fully extended his fingers back to shoot the spikes out and then back.

"Do you have your weapons?" Balthier asked as he and Fran finished preparing the _Strahl_.

Vaan tapped the hilt of the short, black sword that rested on his left hip. "I'm good." He also had a small crossbow on his back.

Penelo, however, looked somewhat embarrassed as her face turned slightly red and she rubbed the ball of her foot on the floor. "Um, I don't have anything."

"Do you really need anything?" Vaan asked her. Penelo was a well accomplished all-purpose mage, even without an item to amplify her power, which is why Vann asked.

"Well I guess not," Penelo replied, "but I would like something to fall back on."

"Fran probably has something you can borrow," Balthier said. And she did. In the curtained off section of the hangar which served as her room, Fran had an armory's worth of different weapons, each one she could use as masterfully as the last.

"How will a bow do?" Fran asked Penelo.

"That's fine," Penelo answered.

Fran vanished to her quarters momentarily and returned with a reflex bow and a quiver of arrows for Penelo. After taking the equipment, Penelo knocked an arrow and aimed it at the wall to get a feel for the bow, then pulled the arrow away, not wanting to waste it.

"Okay," Penelo said. "This one will work."

"I suppose we should get going then," Balthier concluded to push everyone along onto the ship.

Basch and Zargabaath stood in a security office at the maximum security prison on the outskirts of Archades. They had two pictures with them, one the file photo of Everard des Barres, and the other was a picture taken off of the security camera in Draklor, of the man who Ines identified as Everard. The man in either picture did not resemble the other aside from his hair color.

The prison warden had brought Everard to an interrogation room, where he was being watched by Basch and Zargabaath through a camera. This man looked like the one in the file photo, not the man who was involved in the attack on the Laboratory.

"The engineer was mistaken," Zargabaath said.

Basch folded his arms while he continued to look at the screen displaying the interior of the interrogation room. "Something's wrong."

"Basch, the engineer was drugged during the ordeal, it's reasonable that she would have made the mistake," Zargabaath tried to convince Basch.

"She saw the man before she was drugged. These two men only share the same hair color; she could not have made that significant a mistake."

Zargabaath took a moment, looking at the pictures and then the man in the interrogation room. With a sigh, he conceded somewhat to Basch. "It would be difficult to mistake one of these men for the other."

Basch took the pictures and walked into the interrogation room. The man inside made no attempt to acknowledge him. Basch wasted no time and threw the picture of the man who was in the attack on Draklor onto the table. "That man is one of two who conducted a raid on the Draklor Laboratory the other day."

"What does this have to do with me?" The other man asked.

"One of the scientists who survived the attack identified that man as you," Basch explained.

"Your scientist is mistaken."

"Take a look at that picture." Basch waited a moment as the prisoner looked over the photo he had thrown on the table. "The scientist who identified that man seemed to be fairly well acquainted with you. Do you have any idea how Ines could have forgotten what you look like?"

"I've been in here for nearly a year, and I haven't had any visitors," the man answered.

Basch paused for a moment, thinking about the prisoner's answer. "You don't know who Ines is, do you?"

The prisoner sat quietly, refusing to answer Basch's question.

"Do you know who Ines is?" Basch repeated.

The prisoner still refused to answer. Basch watched carefully, waiting for a response, when he saw the man's expression change slightly, almost as if he were arguing with someone.

The man was indeed having another conversation, but only one he could hear.

"A difficult position you've found yourself in," a voice echoed throughout the man's head.

"What did Everard do?" the man said in his head, responding to the other voice.

"Unfortunately, he made a mistake while raiding the Laboratory, and failed to eliminate an old acquaintance that had seen him," the voice responded. "He had attempted to capture her, but the man sitting before you foiled that plan."

"So because of his failure, I'm being questioned," the man concluded.

"Correct, and you have unintentionally given away too much information."

"What?" The man asked the voice, his eyes noticeably widening for Basch.

"Mind your emotions!" The voice scolded. "The Judge can tell something is wrong."

"How have I given away information?"

"It could not be helped." The voice answered. "Though you have been well informed about Everard's life, you can not be expected to know every obscure event or acquaintance in his life. Though now you pose more of a threat to us than an aid."

"What do you mean?"

"We are thankful for your sacrifice, but be require one more for you. Know that you are only helping us through this…" The voice trailed off.

"Wait, Sir Gérard, what sacrifice…" The man's question was answered when a high pitched buzzing sounded in his head, and it suddenly felt as though it were violently expanding. His hands rushed up to grab his head and he stood from his chair and began to scream.

Basch jumped from his chair, surprised at the sudden pain that the man was feeling and tried to settle him. When Basch was finally able to grab the prisoner, he fell limp, and Basch dropped him to the floor. Upon inspecting him, Basch found that blood was trickling from his ears and nose. When he pulled the prisoner's eyes open, the white's of his eyes had turned red. Basch knew the man was dead.

Zargabaath rushed into the room, stopping when he saw Basch holding the man. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Basch replied. "It seemed as though he was arguing with himself, and suddenly he started screaming in pain."

"We should get him to the medical examiner," Zargabaath offered.

"I don't think that will do any good," Basch said, letting go of the body and standing up.

"Where do we go now?"

"You can get any information you need in Archades for the right price," Basch answered.

Balthier, Fran, Penelo, and Vaan all paused at the entrance to the ruins, taking in the large hall of a building that must have once stood prominently in Nabreus. Admiring the architecture, they were not.

"There are traps all over the room," Balthier noted.

"Yeah," Vaan said. "This could be hard." Vaan smiled at the challenge and took. With a dazzling display of jumps and acrobatic ability, Vaan crossed the hall and was safely on the other side in seconds. Fran performed likewise while Penelo easily lifted herself off of the floor and drifted across the trap filled room, softly touching down on the other side.

"Always doing things the hard way," Balthier commented. He reached into a pouch hanging from his belt and pulled a handbomb from it. After arming it, Balthier threw the bomb into the middle of the room, where it exploded, setting off all the traps. Once the smoke had settled, Balthier simply walked across the room.

"That wasn't difficult at all, Vaan."

As they continued, the group now found the temple to be rather quiet, excepting the odd trap. As the Mist on the Nabreus Deadlands dissipated, it gradually became safer, but monsters would still occasionally arise.

The group's trip through the ruins remained peaceful, but proved to be longer than Balthier and Fran had expected, as the ruins extended much deeper than they thought. After fully descending through the ruins, they came to a large room with pillars lining a wide central walkway, and what appeared to be an alter at the opposite side.

"It doesn't look like there's very much here," Balthier noted as he walked into the room.

"Wait," Fran called to him. Balthier turned to see Fran holding a hand up to her head.

"The Mist?" Balthier asked.

"Yes," Fran replied. "It is thick down here."

"Is it another Esper?" Penelo asked.

"I don't know," Fran replied. "It feels… different."

"Well, there's only one way to find out what it is," Vaan said, walking into the room.

Penelo and Fran carefully followed Vaan and Balthier through the room, everyone keeping a close eye on their surroundings. When they walked just over halfway through the large room, the ground began to shake.

"Here it comes!" Balthier called, pulling his gun from his shoulder. The rest drew their weapons as well; in particular, Fran readied the pole from the small arsenal which she carried on her back.

The ground in front of them shot upwards, expelling Mist as it did. Everyone took a step backwards as the mountain formed. When the dust and Mist cleared, they could see what appeared to be an old man with a long white beard wearing a robe at the top of the small mountain, holding a staff.

The old man's first act was to lift his staff straight up into the air. Countless bolts of lightning streamed out from the end of the staff, striking nearly everything in the room. Balthier and the rest, however, managed to find cover behind the pillars in the room.

When the lightning storm had ended, Vaan dashed out from behind his pillar and rushed toward the old man, running in a jagged motion as he dodged bolt after bolt from the lightning wizard as he approached. When he reached the mound that the old man was fighting from, Vann took too steps up it and launched himself the rest of the way. When he reached the pinnacle of his jump, Vaan brought his right arm across his body and tried to stab down at old man, but found his attack stopped by the man's staff. The old man then used his staff to swing Vaan into the mound of earth, just below the summit. Vaan rolled down the sharp incline and push himself up to his hands and knees when he reached the floor.

Using Vaan's overeager approach as cover, Balthier and Fran had moved around behind the old man, and were now given the opportunity to attack. Balthier begun by raising his gun and firing at the wizard's back, but the shell he had fired exploded when a bolt of lighting shot out from the old man's staff, passed through the round, and continued to the floor.

Fran was next; moving from her position on the floor up to their opponent's height in a single bound and swung her pole at the man. He attack was knocked away, and she started to drift backwards slightly from the force of the old man's deflection. As she fell, she took another swing which was also stopped by the man's staff. When Fran landed on the side of the small hill, she quickly had to knock away an attack from the man, and with a fluid motion, she spun with her deflection and jabbed out the opposite end of her pole at the old wizard. Her attack found purchase in the man's abdomen, and caused him to keel forward. With no hesitation, Fran finished her spin and struck the old man in the side of his head with her staff, knocking him from the mound.

Fran jumped down after her fallen opponent, leading with the end of her pole. Though it was not tipped with a blade, Fran knew that she could still impale the old man with her weapon due to the distance she was falling combined with putting all of her weight behind the strike.

The man was not to be defeated so easily, however, as he quickly turned onto his back and lifted his staff, sending a bolt of lightning out at Fran, which re-directed her flight in the opposite direction. Fran landed on the other side of the mound, rolling when she hit the floor.

As the old man stood up, Penelo stepped in to make her first strike. Knocking an arrow, Penelo lined up her shot, and then took another brief moment of concentration, which resulting a cloud of frost beginning to fall from the arrow. Upon its release, the frozen arrow flew toward the old man, shattering upon impact and sending him stumbling several feet backwards.

Balthier continued the assault with his own shot. The round exploded upon impact with the old man and violently forced him to the ground, as it came from the direction he was stumbling in. Vaan then rushed in to attempt to land a finishing blow. Taking to the air once again, he attempted to bring his sword down on the old man, but found himself knocked away when he was struck in the side by the man's staff.

Vaan did manage to land on his feet, but continued sliding back for nearly a yard. When he fully regained his footing, he took off toward the wizard. The others could only see a blur that, in the smallest fraction of a second, moved from where Vaan was to nearly forty feet past the man on the other side, where Vaan now stood holding his sword out beside himself.

The wizard was still reeling from the blow, allowing Penelo and Balthier to strike yet again. Penelo released another frozen arrow which shattered against the wizard, and Balthiers shot exploded on the other side. Both of their attacks hit at nearly the same time.

As the old man recovered from the attack, he released three large bolts of lightning. The bolt flying toward Penelo stopped harmlessly in the air a few feet in front of her, as if it had struck an invisible object. This caused the air to ripple around her, revealing her hastily created shield. Vaan, still geared up from his previous attack, dashed away from the bolt intended for him, the lighting fruitless striking the blur that was left behind. Balthier, however, had no means by which to dodge the lightning, until a katana flew in and dug itself into the ground in front of him. The bolt diverted itself from its path and instead struck the katana which Balthier had identified as part of the arsenal that Fran was carrying.

When the wizard had looked to find the origin of the blade, he was already too late. Fran struck him across the face with her pole. The blow spun him around and sent him stumbling away. Fran capitalized on the opportunity, getting in close to the old man as he wavered and using her pole to sweep his legs out from under him. Before Fran could land another attack on the wizard while he was on the ground, the old man mimicked Fran's attack, sweeping at her legs with his staff.

The old man now had his full attention turned to Fran, but found it to be a mistake, as a shell from Balthier's gun exploded against him, and he now had an angry sky pirate approaching him at full tilt. Redirecting himself toward Balthier, the wizard tried to bring his staff down on him, but Balthier quickly held his gun up, now using it much like a staff, to block the attack.

The wizard now wasted his time struggling for position against Balthier, which allowed the others to capitalize with a little direction. "Penelo, hit him now!" Balthier called past the old man to his ally.

Penelo knocked an arrow and took aim. She again froze the arrow to add more of a punch to the soft, blunt tipped, and ultimately less-than-lethal "Onion" arrow that she was using. With a shot carefully lined up at the center of the old man's back, Penelo released her arrow, which flew true, and shattered upon impact with its target, causing the man to waver and give up on his struggle with Balthier.

At this point, Fran was back on her feet. Balthier directed Fran to move off to his right, and then called from Vaan to attack. Still in his excited state and moving at incredible speeds, Vaan rushed in from Balthier's left, and kicked the old man twice. His first kick was into the man's stomach, lifting him up into the air, and he followed it by spinning and bringing his other foot across into the side of the man's head, sending him flying toward Fran. Vaan's entire attack happened in less then a second, and when he landed he froze himself in place, leaned forward in the opposite direction that he had launched the wizard, and supporting himself with his left hand.

Fran's job now was a simple one. After a few theatrical spins of her pole, Fran swung it up into the air and cut the old man's flight short, throwing him into the ground, and leaving him open for Balthier's coup de grace. Balthier walked up to the man and pointed his gun directly at his head. He had also replaced the ammunition in his gun, instead of using the weak explosive and also less-than-lethal "Onion Shot," he had opted for "Wyrmfire Shot" which used a much more potent explosive.

"The storm's over," Balthier said before pulling the trigger. When the shell exploded, flames engulfed the old man, and before the fire died down, he vaporized into a cloud of Mist, which quickly dispersed.

Balthier threw his gun back and rested it on his shoulder as the rest put away their weapons. "I hope there's a treasure here that was worth all that," Balthier said as everyone walked toward the end of the room.

Unfortunately, the only treasure appeared to be a single black sword, mounted on the alter. "That's it?" Vaan asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Looks that way," Balthier said while scanning the wall. "I don't see a hidden doorway or the like." Balthier then reached up, pulled the sword from the stand and tossed it Vaan, as it filled his particular style.

"Well," Penelo said as everyone turned back to leave the temple, "at least you got a new sword."

Several minutes after they left, a man wrapped in a large white cloak walked out from a dark corner of the room. The only part of his body that his cloak left visible was his hands, which were severely wrinkled and scarred, and his fingers were crooked, looking to be incapable of almost all normal functions. There were also small clouds of Mist that appeared to be falling out of the sleeves of his cloak

"They de-," The cloaked figure interrupted himself as he paused for a moment of erratic breathing. "They defeated Ramuh. To be…" He paused once again as his breathing became random. "… Expected." The man then looked back at the alter. "More import-… importantly, they took the sword."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The sounds of a busy Rabanastre were a faint and distant rumbling to Ashe as she watched from a balcony high on the castle; her castle. She hadn't gotten used to calling it that. She had lived here before, but, during that time, the castle was really her father's. But now, everything in this castle, the city before her, and the country beyond that, was hers.

The responsibilities that went along with her position, however, were not lost on her. One of them, especially, haunted her mind; partially because it was something that Ashe felt she was not ready for, but also because one of her advisors was constantly assuring that she would not forget it. It was her responsibility to have a child. As of right now, Ashe was the only proper remaining member of her bloodline, and Aldric, a rather portly man with thinning hair who was one of her father's surviving advisors, was determined to see it continued.

Aldric's quest to see Ashe continue her bloodline was a never-ending cycle of meetings with suitors, single noblemen from Dalmasca and even Arcadia and Rossaria whose heritage and bloodline would be "suitable" to intertwine with Ashe's own. Despite her retreat to the balcony to avoid the various stresses of her position, Aldric still inserted himself into her own time in order to discuss his latest prospect for her.

"If I could have a moment of your time, your highness?" Aldric asked as he approached Ashe on the balcony.

Ashe let out a barely audible sigh. Aldric was not asking so much as insisting. Not matter how Ashe answered his question he would butt in and discuss plans with the newest suitor anyway. "Yes, what is it?"

"There's a Rossarian nobleman, a friend of mine from a long time ago, actually, who has a son that I think-," Aldric was not allowed any further, interrupted by a booming, yet, to Ashe, comforting voice.

"Now, Aldric, the Queen has several other more urgent matters to be concerned with, I'm sure that looking for a husband can wait."

"But…" Aldric tried to argue with the newcomer.

"Aldric, the Queen is only twenty years old; she has plenty of time ahead of her. She does not need to worry about marriage just yet," the new arrival said. Aldric looked flustered and gave up.

The man who had just saved Ashe from the virtual torture was her Prime Minister, Hughes de Payens. Hughes was older man, just short of middle aged, but looked younger than he was. The man looked like he was once a warrior, tall with a fairly muscular build. He had dark hair and eyes, along with a squared jaw, somewhat pronounced cheekbones and just a hint of a scar under his left eye.

Hughes approached Ashe and leaned on the rail beside her. "Not exactly what you had expected is it?"

"Most of it is actually what I was expecting, I just," Ashe paused for a quick sigh. "I just didn't think it was going to be so urgent for me to get married again."

"It isn't," Hughes assured her. "I know every man that Aldric has been trying to get you to marry. It seems to me that this is for his own personal gain."

"His own gain?"

"If he gets the son of one of his friends to marry you, then he's got his friend by the short ones for the rest of his life."

Ashe gasped in disgust. "He's playing games with my future."

"No one ever said that politics was pretty," Hughes replied. "But as far as I'm concerned, it shouldn't get in the way of your happiness. Just find someone you're happy with, and take your time, wait until you're sure that you're ready."

Ashe looked down at her left hand as Hughes talked; gazing at the two rings she wore. Even as she thought about her late husband, there was comfort in Hughes' words. _Wait until I know that I'm ready_. Ashe's marriage to Rassler might have been on of convenience, but it was still something important to Ashe.

"Thank you, Hughes."

"You don't have to thank me, Ashelia, just keep in mind what I said." Hughes pushed off of the railing and put his hand on Ashe's shoulder. "If you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

Ashe looked back at Hughes, nodding at him to allow him to leave. She stayed on the balcony longer, thinking about what Hughes had told her. It was a relief to know that she did not have to worry about marriage for the immediate future, something she could use to help her put up with Aldric.

Information about anything was available in Arcades, for the right price. And so Basch found himself in Old Arcades, looking for a man he had met only briefly a year ago. Basch had figured that his armor would be unsuitable for this situation, as he would stand out rather well against the broken and dejected background of Old Arcades, so he opted for his much more casual attire, which would help him blend in better.

Basch did, however, recognize a certain woman who he had become familiar with over the last couple of days. He had only ever seen Inés wearing a lab coat or a hospital gown, so her attire was somewhat of a surprise to him. Her top consisted of two pieces of elastic cloth, adorned with colorful floral patters, stretched across her chest and back which were joined at each of her sides by a series of strings, and another string also went up and around the back of her neck. Her pants, which fell to a few inches below her knees, were equally as colorful, and were made of a light, thin fabric which hung loosely from her body with the exception of the waist.

Most curious to Basch was the pair of rather drab black gloves with cutoff fingers, and matching feet and ankle wraps, combined with a lack of shoes.

"What are you doing here?" Basch asked rather abruptly.

"No 'nice to see you again,' or 'how are you doing'?" Inés responded.

"You can't be poor," Basch said, noting her job at the Laboratory, "So you must have a reason to be down here, what is it?"

"Ah, so you are always an 'all business' kind of guy, huh?" Inés smiled as she could see that she was already aggravating Basch. "In any case, handsome, I could ask you the same question." Inés paused for a moment, tapping her index finger on her lips. "But then again, I think I already know why you're down here. Looking for the guys who broke into the lab, right?"

Basch didn't answer, instead walking past Inés as he looked for the person he had originally come to meet. Inés jogged a few steps to catch up to him, then matched pace beside him. "Come on, you could use my help in this," she offered.

"How's that?"

"Well, I already know one of the guys that you're after. I know what he's like, I know how he thinks, and whenever he builds whatever was on those blueprints he stole I'm your best chance for figuring out how to deal with it.

"On top of that, you're a bit high profile to be doing the whole, inconspicuous detective thing, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Basch asked without turning his head to look at Inés.

"Take a look around, Judge von Rosenberg." Inés waved an arm out in front of both of them to encourage him. "I know you're trying to blend in without the huge suit of armor and all, but the reality of it is that most of the people down here know exactly who you are. And the ones that don't are probably still looking at you saying to themselves, 'Hey he looks a lot like that one Judge'."

Inés paused to let Basch consider what she had just said before adding. "Plus, subtlety isn't exactly your game."

This was enough to get Basch to turn his head toward Inés, though he made no verbal reply.

"I saw that hole on the outside wall of the Lab that you left, and I was also conscious enough to know that the window in the lobby is broken because you threw Everard through it," Inés explained.

"Interesting that you should comment on my abilities to be inconspicuous," Basch said, finally breaking his silence.

"Oh?" Inés was very interested in what Basch had to say.

"I'm inclined to think that, if it were not for my status as a Judge Magister, you would stand out in a crowd more then I, mainly due to your provocative manner of dress and…" Basch took a moment to search for the right word, "comeliness."

Inés looked somewhat flattered by Basch's comment. "Was that last part a compliment?"

"Take it as you will," Basch brushed off Inés question. "The fact is that your choice of clothing and your physical appearance make you stand out more than you think, and it is something that people would tend to remember."

Inés looked down at herself and shrugged. "Guess I can't argue with that."

"It's of no consequence anyway. You have a personal stake in this since these men killed your friends, and that makes you a liability. If I did allow you to help, I would have no guarantee that you would allow these men to live long enough to see the courtroom."

"One of those men should have been in jail. Something is wrong with the courts," Inés replied, somewhat angry.

"The courts weren't the problem. Everard was convicted and sent to jail, but there was an imposter in his place," Basch corrected Inés.

"Then where was the problem?"

"That's what I intend to find out."

As Basch finished his statement, they came across a man, casually leaning against the wall of a building. "Jules," Basch greeted him.

"Ah, Basch, or should I call you Judge Magister now?" Jules responded. "What brings you around these parts?"

Inés walked over to a stack of crates that Jules was standing next to and pushed herself up onto them, sitting down and crossing her legs. "We need to know a few things about the attack on the Lab the other day."

Basch looked over at Inés with as close to a glare as he could manage. _We?_

"The attack on the lab? Not sure that I know anything I can help you with there," Jules replied.

Basch removed a pouch from his belt and began fishing though it, producing several coins.

"Well, there might be something I can tell you, but it might not be to big a help," Jules continued.

Basch let out an irritated grunt and began to pull more coins from his pouch when Inés leaned over to Jules, placing her hands on the edge of the box which positioned her arms in just the right way to accentuate her chest. "Oh, come on Jules," she said barley above a whisper, "I'm sure that anything you know will help us out.

"I, uh…" It was very obvious to both Basch and Inés where Jules' focus was. "There was, uh…"

"Jules!" Basch tried to bring him back from his mental vacation. While Inés plan was working in so far in that it had gotten Jules to give them information without anymore money, it was backfiring in that Jules was so distracted by Inés breasts that he couldn't actually give them the information.

With a shake of his head, Jules was finally back. "I've heard that there were a few guys that were asking around for some pretty big stuff. Some sort of advanced equipment or something, I've never heard of any of it, but it seems like they know a lot about that stuff."

"A few?" Basch asked. "Do you have a number?"

"No," Jules answered.

"Does two sound about right?"

"No, no, no," Jules said. "It's gota be more then that. Anyway, most of these people have been making their 'requests' at the same tavern, from what I can gather; a pretty dank place on the west side of Old Arcades. I'd look there next if I were you."

"I doubt anyone there would want to talk to a Judge Magister," Inés said in a snarky tone. "Oh, you know what, I could probably go in there and get some information for you."

Basch didn't get a chance to be annoyed with her, as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right arm. Looking down, he noticed a dark sticking out of his arm. He quickly removed the dart and looked back to see a man in white clothes with only his eyes showing on top of a building. Once making eye contact, the ninja in white fled and Basch gave pursuit.

Inés hopped off of the crate she was sitting on and looked down at the needle which Basch had removed from his arm. She grabbed a stray piece of paper from the ground and used it to pick up the needle, which she held up to her nose to smell.

"Do you have a lighter?" She asked Jules reaching back in anticipation of a positive answer.

Jules silently produced his lighter and handed it to Inés, who struck it and held the flame under the needle. The small sliver of metal caught flame itself, which burned a bright cherry red. "It's one of his," Inés said as she examined the flame. She then threw the needle and paper to the ground and tossed the lighter over he shoulder and back to Jules as she took off after Basch.

"One of who's?" Jules frivolously called at Inés as she ran off.

Basch was able to climb up onto the roof of the building he had been shot from, and pursue the man who had hit him with the dart. As Basch followed him from rooftop to rooftop, however, he noticed something wrong: he was getting fatigued much faster than normal. He was already out of breath, but was too determined to give up on the pursuit. Basch still followed the man, but upon jumping to the next rooftop additional problems began to stack upon his current lack of stamina. His extremities began to ache, and he had become very aware of his now intense, rapid heartbeat, making it feel as though his chest was collapsing around it.

_What was on that needle?_ Basch asked himself as he fell to one knee. His would-be assassin now noticed the distress that Basch was in, and ceased his flight, instead turning to the Judge Magister and drawing a knife. Basch fought to push himself up, but was now so lightheaded that it was a task for him to balance even just in his crouched position.

Basch eventually found himself struggling for him to keep his eyes open, but despite his best efforts, his eyelids forced their way down, and Basch fell to the floor, unconscious.

The assassin walked up to Basch, too impatient to let the poison from the dart do the job. He raised the knife over his head, ready to plunge it into Basch's back, but before he could swing, the knife was knocked from his hand.

Inés had been just in time, jumping from the pervious building and kicking the knife out of the assassin's hand while mid-air, just before it was guided into Basch. She was now crouched in between Basch and the assassin, looking over her shoulder at her opponent.

The assassin reacted quickly to this new threat, sweeping a leg out at Inés, but found his attack artfully dodged as Inés flipped backwards, over the assassin's leg, and landed perfectly on her hands. From her inverted position, Inés swung her own foot out at the head of the assassin, who managed to duck away from her, despite being somewhat baffled by this unorthodox style.

Inés used the same motion from her kick to return herself to her feet, while the assassin backed up and planned his attack. When Inés landed, she did anything but stay still, bouncing back and forth, swinging her arms out in front of herself as she did so, and, to the assassin, it almost appeared as though she was dancing.

It was obvious to Inés that the assassin was bewildered by her style, and he awaited her attack to figure out how he would deal with her. Inés obliged her opponent and closed the distance between them in two bounds, first stepping forward and to her left, and then crossing back to her right. When she reached the assassin, Inés leaned her torso back to the left as she brought her right hand across in an attempt to strike the assassin in the head. Her opponent ducked her attack and returned with a high punch of his own, but Inés leaned forward, artfully ducking the attack, and swung her body back to her right.

The assassin attacked again with a straight punch at Inés, but a quick cartwheel to her left saw that she dodged the attack. Inés crouched when she came out of the cartwheel, then used her arms to support herself as she swung both of her legs around at the assassin's, sweeping them out from under him.

When Inés' legs swung back behind her, she pushed up into a handstand and rolled forward so that she was straddling the assassin. As the assassin sat up, trying to stand, Inés pushed him back to the floor, pinning him with her left hand while lifting up her right. Small bolts of electricity began to arc across the glove on her right hand which she then brought down on her opponent's chest. The strike cracked the floor beneath the assassin, and, after a pained cough, the man passed out.

Inés stood up and looked over at Basch, who had long since lost consciousness. As she did, several sparks shot from her right glove, followed by light smoke. Inés shook her hand briefly and removed the glove, cursing as she did so.

A brief moment passed before a man walked out to the roof from an access door. "What the hell is going on up here?"

Inés looked at him and smiled. "Do you have a phone?"

A bright white light momentarily blinded Basch when he opened his eyes, but slowly faded to blurry colors and finally sharp images as he made out that he was lying in a hospital bed with Inés and the nurse watching him.

"You have to start taking better care of yourself," the nurse was already scolding him. "This is the second time you've been in here in three days."

Basch simply ignored her. "What happened?" His voice was unusually weak.

"You were poisoned by that guy that attacked you. It was one that Everard developed," Inés answered.

"So he was working with Everard," Basch said to no one in particular.

"It's a good guess," Inés said. "You're just lucky that I was able to find out what it was so you could get the antidote."

"Did someone catch the man?" Basch asked, paying no attention to Inés' second comment.

Inés made a somewhat confused face. "Yeah, I got him, but he died. It looked kind of like his brain exploded or something."

"Like the other one…" Basch said under his breath.

Inés looked at Basch for a moment. "Like what?"

"The man in prison, the one who was supposed to be Everard, he died the same way," Basch explained. "What is happening?"

"I don't know," Inés answered, though the question was not directed at her. "I think your best bet is check out that bar that Jules told you about."


End file.
